Count Like Four Three Two
by Three AM
Summary: A very unlikely...friendship. Sorta. Fre-nemy-ship? Whatever.


**COUNT LIKE FOUR THREE TWO**

_**Three AM**_

_Chapter One_

Note: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer and various quotes used in this chapter belong to Bruno Mars. This isn't beta-ed so any grammatical errors are mine. For **ILoveVanillaTwilight. **=)

xxxxxx

_If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I'll sail the world to find you._

It was… nice.

Those were her first thoughts when she heard (just overheard, actually) the soft strumming of strings. She looked at both ends of the hallway, but as it was, it was thoroughly empty save for herself and a freshman who was struggling with a rather heavy-looking backpack. She tried to move on and walk away, but the mysterious rhythm seemed to tantalize her, awakening her curiosity even more when the notes changed to a different tune seamlessly.

It was as if the notes itself were alive and… though not happy, but just content… drifting through walls and rooms and echoing back into the almost empty hallway.

She bit her lip and fiddled with the flimsy ends of her red scarf. She could go to the left and towards the busy and crowded cafeteria (it was lunchtime after all). Or, she could choose right where most of the rooms were located… where the soft humming of a guitar seemed to be coming from.

A small voice popped in her head, reminding her of the old sayings, "curiosity killed the cat", "ignorance is a bliss", or the more commonly known "mind your own business".

But hey, she's Kim Connweller. Since when did she go with the flow to the norm anyway? Besides, it wasn't like she'd go bursting through the door and surprising whoever it was out of his/her mind. She just wanted to satiate her curiosity. She just wanted to know who it was who making that really good music. It wasn't as if it was even something top secret that no one else must know about.

Right?

Biting her lips to prevent a smile, she shrugged and went right.

Walking silently, she wondered who it was that was playing the guitar. Though she didn't know how to play any instrument to save her life, she did know a nice sound if she heard it. And that's what it was. Good soothing music.

She finally stopped in front of a brown painted door and blinked.

'_Huh,'_ she thought. _'Well of course.'_

Music Room. It read at a sign posted at the door, just above her head. Noticing it was opened slightly already, she craned her neck and tried to take a peek, but all she could see were silent instruments laid down on the floor. Whoever it was who was playing was being blocked by the door.

'_Just a tiny bit,'_ she said to herself, as she pushed the door as carefully and quietly as she could. But as her luck would have it, the door gave a small squeaking sound.

She froze.

"Who's there?" a male voice suddenly asked. To her horror, she heard something like a chair being pushed back and heavy footsteps starting towards the door.

Without a second thought, she bolted.

She ran and turned to the first corner, ran some more to another hallway, until she finally reached a familiar door and pushed it open.

Gasping for breath, she stumbled through the front steps of the school and slumped to an empty bench. _'Good thing the yard was not that crowded,'_ she thought, as she clasped a fist against her chest. She could feel her face heating up rapidly and her heart still beating fast – from all that running or from the embarrassing fact that she almost got caught eavesdropping, she didn't know. She just felt thoroughly relieved that she wasn't caught.

She also didn't get to see who the mystery guy was.

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling, she stood exactly to the timing of the bell, signaling for the end of lunch. She didn't get to eat some snack as well, she realized with a groan. Reaching for her scarf, she started to walk back inside the school.

Only to realize that her old, trusty, and most favorite red scarf was not around her neck anymore.

'_Oh fudge.'_

xxxxx

_Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice? Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you._

"Good morning! Welcome to—"

She faltered when she actually saw who just came in.

He didn't say anything though, as he walked to the front of the counter (where she was) with his eyes trained on the menu above. The chimes hanging above the door still continued to tinkle.

She swallowed and willed her heart to stay still. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.

"W-Welcome to C-Clearwater's Coffee and Tea Corner!"

This time, she got his attention. Finally. She watched when he suddenly looked down at her (he was always been quite tall for his age, she remembered), then around the place, as if confused. She bit her lip in confusion as well. _'Is there something wrong?'_

"Connweller, right?" he asked like he was surprised, staring at her with those dreamy brown eyes. But she willed herself to stay focused on this very moment. It was a rare opportunity after all, to get to talk to the one of the most famous boys in school, without his usual peers.

Alone.

Her heart was currently screaming with glee and crying buckets of tears.

"Hi Jared," she managed to greet him, if not a little breathless.

"I didn't know you're working here."

"Oh, I started just about a week ago," she said, nodding. Down under the counter where he couldn't see, she was crossing her fingers tightly, wishing fervently that _this_ would be the start of a newly found friendship. _'Oh please oh please oh please…'_

"Ah, I see." Tilting his head sideways a bit, and with a seemingly amused look, Jared said, "I wasn't aware that this shop actually have a name. I thought it was just the old coffee house."

"Well that's because it was the very first coffee shop that was built here in La Push," she answered automatically. "Do you know that the Clearwaters started this business back in the 1970's? They weren't as prominent back in the days as they are now. Before, they didn't have that much money, only enough to build a decent diner. But after they were able to save enough though, they finally decided to put up that logo in front and added more stuff in here. I guess people just got used to calling it the old coffee house rather than its actual name because of that."

He was staring at her. And she stared back.

"Uhm, wow," he mumbled.

She began to blush. Furiously. It wasn't helping at all that she just felt so freaking stupid in front of her crush. _'Geek much? Ugh! Think of something, think of something!' _

"Do you know that coffee beans are made of cat poops?" she blurted out.

"WHAT?" He was looking at her incredulously.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, her face resembling like a red-faced fish, before finally closing it. _'Why oh why am I cursed with this kind of disorder? Mouth, seriously, shut up now.'_ She closed her eyes tightly, her face in a grimace, silently _begging_ for any god who cared enough to listen to end her life gloriously by opening the ground she was standing on and swallow her whole.

But she was surprised when Jared suddenly laughed out loud. "Are you serious?" he asked, his gorgeous lips still stretched to an amused grin.

Accepting this very moment as her most embarrassing moment ever, Kim just shook her head slightly and let out a small chuckle, passing it off as a joke. But actually, it was kind of true… sorta.

"How'd you know about that anyway?" he asked.

"What, the cat poop?"

Once again, he bellowed in laughter. "No. About this shop. That little history?"

"Oh. Sue Clearwater told me on my first day," she replied, smiling shyly at him.

"Aaah right," he nodded. "So… uhm, can I order now?"

"R-Right! Of course!"

"You sure you don't serve nasty stuff around here?"

"NO!"

"Chill Connweller, I'm just kidding," he said with a friendly smile. And a wink.

Kim swallowed as her heart jumped crazily on the trampoline again.

So while he waited by bulletin wall, she hurriedly (but surely) created one cold chocolate milk drink with whipped cream. Plus hazelnut syrup.

'_Well, someone's got a sweet tooth.'_

She stored that tiny piece of information in her mind.

Talking to him wasn't all that bad as she thought it would be, she found. No, she guessed, actually. She wasn't so sure if her "geeking out" and her "mouth flapping away when she got nervous" were actually cool, but whatever. At least she was still able to hold a decent conversation with him, without his usual cronies sneering in the background. Jared was honestly an okay guy, she mused. If not a bit dumb.

Oh, but she shouldn't judge a man's character so easily by just one conversation! It wasn't his fault that he didn't know the shop actually have a legit name. And that some coffees were really from an animal stool.

After handing out to Jared his order (she tried to brush her fingers with his, but it was SUCH a fail that she just blushed furiously again, to her horror), he smiled his thanks and headed out. With a small "See yah!" he was out.

Only after staring dreamily at the door for one whole minute did she realized that he didn't pay for his order.

'_Oh shoot!' _She smacked her forehead with her palm, grimacing at her utter stupidity. Running out of the shop, she looked at the streets, but there was no Jared in sight. _'Wait. Maybe he'll realize and he'll come back.'_

Ten minutes after and she was still standing in front of the coffee house, her shoulders sagging in disappointment… and frustration. She was just sooo stupid! How could she have forgotten to get his money? Now, she had to pay for it herself. Even if she's the only crew present in the shop today, she couldn't bring herself to cheat and not pay the order even if it wasn't hers. The guilt would just eat her up anyway until she got home and she wouldn't be able to sleep.

Sighing, she went back inside. _'Maybe Jared IS dumb after all,' _she thought, trying to cheer herself up.

Then, the wind chimes by the door tinkled again, signaling for another customer. With high hopes that it was him again, she turned around, smiling.

And froze.

Well, it wasn't him.

But certainly, this new _him_ was still the guy she least expected to see today on a Thursday after-school.

Paul Raven strode inside and towards one of the farthest tables in the corner. He placed a black guitar case on the chair against the wall, and sat down. All the while, never acknowledging Kim's presence from across the room.

Well, that was just okay with Kim. They weren't friends after all. Heck, she could even count in her nimble fingers the number of times they talked. And it was either he was asking about their homework, or if he could borrow a pen.

And seriously, Paul was the last person she'll ever start a conversation with. He was known for his brooding mood and short temper. She heard that he'd been sent to detention for so many times already and had suspensions from school since their freshman years. Now that they were seniors, he still hadn't changed and practically everyone at school managed to always stay away from him.

That was, except from Jared and his group. They were the only guys who didn't seem to be afraid to stand up to Paul.

From the corner of her eyes, she watched as he stayed in his little corner for some more minutes. _'Isn't he going to buy something?' _she thought, as she cleaned the tools she used earlier. Well, it wasn't as if the diner was brimming with customers for today. In fact, it was only him and her now.

Since he didn't seem to be ordering anything anytime soon, she decided to play some music. It was getting quite boring now, to be honest. And though, quiet and shy she was, she wasn't boring. Far from it, actually. Closing her eyes for a second, and immersing herself in that familiar tingle whenever she got excited at the prospect of hearing music, she smiled.

Too bad that she left her iPod at home though. But she recalled Sue saying something about their old stuff at the second floor, particularly where their music system was located. Instinctively, Kim looked at the spiral wooden staircase at one corner. She had never toured there yet, and Sue didn't say that it was prohibited.

Glancing once more at her lone customer (and he looked quite occupied with whatever it was that he was doing), she walked towards the stairs and carefully went up. When she reached the top, she found that the room was actually an attic. It was dimly lit, with the only source of light coming from the window. After she found a switch and turned it on, she could see more clearly. And it was such a huge pile of treasures and junks alike!

There was dust everywhere. There were bits and pieces of decorative vases and jars, wood carvings of wolves and what seemed to be replicas of their tribe's totem, some more broken chairs and tables, and a few bigger pieces were covered with wide blankets. And there, at the far end of the wall just under the window, was a small cabinet with an old stereo sitting inside a glass-covered shelf.

After a couple of sneezes, she pulled the glasses open and faced the old stereo system with a frown. It looked too old school, no single player for a cd, and only had two players for cassette tapes. Tapes? Who the heck owned at least one functional cassette tape in this generation? That was her incredulous thought, until her eyes landed on the lower shelves, where rows of cases were displayed.

'_Well, what do you know.'_ She smiled wryly.

Kim sighed and put her hands on her hips. She stood there, staring down at the old thing as if engaged in a silent battle of the wills. She knew that the coffee house was old and all, but she didn't expect that even their boombox would be this ancient. It was dusty, even a bit rusty, and it didn't look to be working properly. But she _really_ wanted some music. Her whole body and soul was _craving_ for it. With her shoulders set in determination, she got an old rag from somewhere and cleaned it… at least as much as she can. The poor aged thing seemed to have moved on to its afterlife, but she's still willing to try it out.

After what seemed like an eternity and hands full of dirt, she eyed the array of cassette tapes. She bit her lip as she decided what to play. She wasn't really familiar with any of this music, so she just chose the orange colored one. After a few seconds of prayer and with bated breath, she placed the tape into the player and pushed the play button.

Nothing.

Kim frowned. She leaned closer and noticed that it wasn't even playing.

OH.

It wasn't turned on. Chuckling at her stupidity for the second time, she searched and searched until she found the cord and plugged it to the nearest electrical port.

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching sound booming inside the shop. Kim cringed as she immediately looked for the volume knob and turned it down. She didn't realize that the stereo was already connected to the small speakers below, hanging at the corners inside the shop. She'd seen them before, but never really bothered to think that they could still be working.

'_Well what do you know, it's still working!'_ she thought with a huge grin on her face.

Now listening intently to the music, it was like an old woman's voice singing this slow ballad. But the more she listened, the more she realized it was more like jazz and the more she found herself liking the old school music. She was more of a contemporary type of girl, but this 70's or something kind of music was not too bad. In fact…

Closing her eyes, she let the music fill her soul, like an invisible thread of energy entering from her fingertips and running through her veins. It went flowing from her head and smoothly down to her toes, filling her heart with a warm and welcome beat. Soon, she was making isolations with her arms, and then her legs, until she found herself immersed so deeply into the rhythm. She was pulling and pushing and turning and she couldn't stop.

She was dancing.

That was, until a distinct cough broke through her almost sacred revelry.

Kim froze.

There, watching silently with arms crossed and eyes assessing, stood Paul.

Her heart jumped at the sight, blood quickly rushing to her face in complete embarrassment. She still wasn't used to dancing in front of an audience, especially if she didn't know she has one.

"W-What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice high in pitch. She cleared her throat.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked back, with one eyebrow raised.

Feeling like a child caught sneaking a cookie from a jar, she just stared at him.

"Last time I checked this is a coffee house," he continued, with a quietly condescending tone. "Not a playground."

She frowned, ignoring the fast beating of her heart and that small voice whispering at the back of her mind that she should be nervous. _'Wait a minute, who does he think he is? He's not even my boss.'_

"Yeah well, I'm a crew here. I can do what I want," she retorted back, trying to sound confident by placing her hands on her hips.

He just snorted. "Right. You're the crew, I'm the customer. You should be down there serving me and not here lazing around."

She gasped. "I'm _not_ lazing around!"

"Then what do you call this?"

"I—" she started, then paused. Suddenly, she was looking at everywhere except him, hoping to quickly think of something viable to reason out. "I was…"

He smirked at her, the smug look on his face doing all the talking. "What? Fooling around on your duty?"

She gritted her teeth in annoyance and stared back at him again. "I was exploring, ok?"

"Exploring?"

"Yeah," she said casually, trying to sound nonchalant like she did this every time, every day. But watching his eyes staring right back at her so intensely that she thought her knees would buckle, she pursed her lips. She would firmly stand by her resolve now. She knew she was already busted, but that didn't mean she was going to back down. No, not without a fight.

"Yeah, I was looking for the music player," she added, jutting her chin out.

"Uh huh," he commented, his assessing eyes finally leaving hers and darting around the room. "So you can fool around."

"Stop it! I wasn't fooling around, ok?" she defended, crossing her arms against her chest. "If you must know, I was dancing."

"Dancing?" He riveted his attention back to her. He looked incredulous. "You call that lame waving of your arms dancing?" She let out another indignant gasp. "And who in their right minds would dance in a freaking coffee shop?"

"Well hold on a minute!"

That was it! She was really pissed off now. She might not be the best dancer in town, but Paul Raven, of all people, did not have the right to call her dancing lame. Not when he didn't look like he could even do a simple arabesque. _'Seriously, who the heck does he think he is?' _

She took a few steps towards him until they were only half a foot apart. Craning her neck to look up at him head on (boy, was he really a giant!), she glared and began to rant.

"First of all, my dancing isn't lame. Who the heck are you to say that, when you look like a big stupid lumberjack who couldn't even do a two-step properly to save your life! Secondly, you're not my boss so quit harassing me like you've got something stuck up in your bottom. Third, there were barely any customers down there and last I checked you looked very comfy in your seat and isn't even ordering anything!" She hold up a hand when he was about to interrupt. "And lastly, what are you doing up here? This is restricted for personnel people only!"

She wanted to raise her eyebrow at him but knew she couldn't do it and would only make fool out of herself, so she resorted to placing her hands on her waist. And tried her best to look like she was seriously crossed.

For a second, he narrowed his eyes and Kim swore her heart stopped. But he quickly went back to being… just casually threatening.

'_Does this guy have a superpower or something? Swear he makes it look so easy to be frightening.'_

"Lumberjack?" he echoed. She opened her mouth but he stopped her with a step of his own, closer to her. Her eyes widened a bit.

"I didn't see any sign," he said blankly. He then smirked, looking smug, that she wanted to punch him right in the face. "And even if I'm not your boss, I could report you for abandoning your duties."

She let out a gasp. "Report me?"

"I _am_ about to buy something, but since you didn't come back down after starting that horrifying music, I decided to check on you."

"Wha—Horrifying? Excuse me?"

"And since you seem too busy playing around, maybe I'll just look for another coffee shop where there is _excellent_ service and _nice_, diligent staff who wouldn't even _think_ of talking back to innocent customers," he said, turning around and about to go down the staircase.

"No wait!" She instinctively reached for him and grasped his arm. He stopped and stared hard down at her hand. Seeing this, she quickly retracted.

"Wait, just a second," she started, trying her best to look as apologetic as she could.

"W-We can go down now, you know, no need to stay up here. And uhm, I can prepare your order now too," she said fast, now looking up at him with wide apprehensive (if not, pleading) eyes. She wouldn't want to lose a customer. Even if Sue was not here, she'd still feel guilty since this was on her now. Plus, she didn't know Paul Raven that well. He could be a man of his word and really tell on her.

She bit her lip and waited with bated breath.

He huffed. "So now you're nice?"

She sighed. Maybe it was time to throw in the white flag. She figured she just need to come clean now and hopefully he'd understand… and that he wouldn't really tell Sue of this little incident.

"Fine, I'm sorry, okay?" She was bowing her head down a bit, but she was still determined to look him straight in the eyes. If she would go down, best do it with her dignity intact. "I didn't mean to stay up here this long. I was only looking for some music and… I guess I just got too carried away. I'm sorry."

He just raised an eyebrow. She thought it was unfair how a guy like him could do that when she had been practicing in front of the mirror for years but she could never master such art of raising an eyebrow and looking like a snob.

She bit her lip and stared at him under her lashes. "Please?"

He huffed again, this time obviously laced with annoyance, before he said, "Fine. I'll forget this little incident happened—"

She started to smile.

"—if I get a free meal."

"_WHAT?"_

"That, plus you stop playing that awful sound. I came here for caffeine, not for a lullaby to lull me to sleep - it's not even six yet."

"It's a _classic_ for your infor—"

"You know I'm sure the Clearwaters wouldn't mind me paying them a visit sometime," he drawled, flicking something under his nails before looking back at her. "Seeing as their house is right across from mine."

She was glaring at him, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. She was thoroughly beaten now, that she knew, but he didn't have to be such a freaking a-hole about it!

'_He even got me to think of a curse word! Ugh!' _she thought, closing her eyes tightly in annoyance.

"Hey midget!"

She quickly opened her eyes again and looked at him unbelievingly. _'How dare he—'_

"What now? Either that or I'll tell Mrs. Clearwater how _very_ bad you've been," he said. He even added a smirk at the end.

She was still gaping at him.

And he was just looking down at her.

Paul must have thought that her silence meant "go to hell" for he suddenly just shrugged and started to go back down the stairs. Kim immediately went after him and grasped him again, this time, at his shoulder.

"WAIT!"

He turned his head, exasperation now clearly written on his face. "WHAT?"

"Okay! Alright?"

"Okay what?"

"Okay as in you'll get free breakfast," she said hurriedly, wishing he'd still consider. "And I'll stop the music."

Well, he obviously did with the way he immediately grinned at her.

She wanted to push him down the stairs.

"Good," he said and proceeded to go down.

When he disappeared out of her view, Kim looked up at the ceiling and pouted.

"Seriously, do you really hate me so much? Have I done something wrong today? But I made up my own bed this morning! Ugh!" she muttered under her breath before finally heaving a sigh, turned the stereo off, and went down the stairs as well.

She was almost off the stairs when she realized that she'd be paying not only for Jared's take out, but also for Paul's free meal.

She froze. And tripped on her last two steps.

Somewhere in her hazy pain-induced mind, she thought she heard an amused and thoroughly evil laughter. That's when she decided that cursing wasn't so bad after all, especially when the person you had in mind was a certified douchebag.

xxxxx

_Coz this ain't Wonderlad, it damn sure ain't Narnia. And once you cross the line you can't change your mind._

White. Crumpled. Two sides of it were clearly torn while the other two were cleanly cut. Faded blue lines ran horizontally, with black printed letters written above it.

Kim sighed.

She was standing in the middle of the hallway, the students coming in and out of the classrooms, ready to go home. But here she was, completely conflicted as to what do with the thing in her hand. She tightened her grip on it before looking down at it again for the umpteenth time.

'_Fetch Maggie after field trip, 5:30PM. Look for baby sitter, Saturday night.'_

'_And an unknown number,'_ she read silently.

It was a small piece of paper with what seemed like a list of to-do stuff. _'Or maybe reminders,'_ she thought. _'Well, who would've thought Paul Raven can be a bit OC, huh.'_

Speaking of the devil, she looked ahead and sure thing, he was there, placing books inside his locker. Kim bit her lip. She still wasn't sure if she should do this. First of all, she really hated the guy after what happened at the coffee house yesterday. True to his word, he didn't seem to tell on her to Sue because the woman didn't say anything related to that incident to Kim. To this, she was relieved… and yes, grateful to that big stupid ogre. But still, that didn't erase the lingering intense dislike she had for the guy. To her, he was still such a vile, obnoxious, full-time jerk.

However, that didn't change the fact that she needed money. Badly. Losing money that cost one take-out coffee and a full meal was bad enough to leave a gaping hole in her daily savings.

With that last thought, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for battle.

As she approached Paul, who still hadn't seen her, she took in his profile. He was one of the tallest guys in school, even a bit taller than Jared, she reckoned. His black hair was untamed, like he didn't even combed after getting up from bed. His eyes were dark and the usual scowl was set on his lips.

She willed herself to take one last step beside him, before she lost all her bravado and changed her mind.

Finally, he noticed her.

Craning her neck to look up at him, she thrust the piece of paper towards him. He looked surprised for a second, before glaring at her suspiciously.

"I believe it's yours," she said quietly. "You left it at the coffee shop yesterday."

He immediately snatched it from her, and without saying anything else, he closed his locker loudly, turned around, and walked away from her.

Kim was left standing there, gaping at him with mouth hanging open. _'The nerve of that—'_

She immediately stalked after him and managed to grasp his backpack, pulling him to a stop. She could feel her face reddening in anger.

"Won't you even say thanks?" she seethed.

And he just glared down at her.

"Well?" She was fairly shouting now, and she could see some students eyeing them curiously. But she didn't care. For some reason, Paul Raven managed to rile her up even without trying.

He took a menacing step closer to her, but she was still mad enough not to take a step backwards. "Listen, _princess._ I didn't ask for you return this. And I thought our casual acquaintance ended when I stepped out of that little diner yesterday. Or was I thinking wrong? Because I can easily cross that tiny street and knock on the Clearwaters' door."

"Well I'm sorry for being honest and assuming that that paper could be important to you," she retorted back. "A simple thanks would suffice."

He rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he indeed muttered a "Thanks" before stalking off again.

She seized his backpack again. This time, she took a step back as he rounded completely and glowered down at her warningly.

He hissed, "Connweller, this is the last time—"

She shook her head. "W-Wait! J-Just hear me out first okay?"

Suddenly, he straightened and eyed her strangely. "Are you in love with me or something?"

"_WHAT?_ No! What makes you think—?"

"Then why do you keep on following me?" he inserted. Suddenly, he lost his angry stance and looked to be seemingly amused. He crossed his arms, looking decidedly arrogant. "You _are_ in love with me, aren't you?"

She gasped, horror clearly written in her face. "You _are _going out of your mind! No way am I _in love_ with you, as you put it. That's so _disgusting_!"

He sneered. "Sure sure, princess. Keep telling yourself that and I may just have to believe you."

This time, she was the one who rolled her eyes. She decided to end this ridiculous tirade and get straight to the point. "Listen, Raven. I'm free on Saturday night."

He raised his eyebrow in surprise before grinning widely.

She blinked and quickly regretted her words. "Wait, that's not what I meant!"

He took another step towards her and even if she stumbled backwards, they were now closer than ever. "Well well, what do you know? Little Kimmy isn't so _tame_ after all."

"I meant to say that you're looking for a babysitter right? I can do it! I'm free on Saturday night, okay?" she told him hurriedly, before he got any more wrong ideas in his head.

To her relief, he stopped advancing towards her. "Aaah," he simply said.

Silently, she just nodded.

He continued to look at her, as if assessing her, while she tried her best not to fidget under his stare. _'Don't… don't…don't break down under his superpower, Kim! You can do this!'_

"So… what do you think?" she asked.

"How much do you charge?"

She bit her lip to keep from grinning in victory. "How about… 10 dollars an hour?"

"Five dollars."

"Five?" she echoed incredulously. "But that's half!"

He shrugged, as if he didn't care.

She gritted her teeth. "Eight."

"Four."

"That's another half!" she accused.

"And I'll keep on dividing it if you keep on going at this," he said.

"Fine! Five, okay?"

"Three fifty."

"What?" she shouted. She repressed from biting back that three dollars and fifty cents was not the half of five.

"Take it or leave it," he drawled.

"But five is your first bargain!"

"You know Connweller, you're not the only one who needs some cash in this small town," he said. "I could easily find another with the same price…"

"UGH!" she let out a groan and flung her arms in frustration. "Fine fine! I take it, okay?"

She glowered while he smiled victoriously. She wanted to kick him in the groin, but seeing as he just became her _first_ and newest customer (for babysitting services okay? Babysitting!), he might not like that very much.

"What time do you need me?" she asked. A girl that Kim recognized as one of her classmates in Physics, was passing by.

"Around four thirty, sounds good?"

"I thought you need me by night?"

The girl paused and looked at them, eyes wide. Paul noticed and snarled, "What are you looking at?"

She immediately scampered away. Kim sighed. She just hoped the girl didn't take the wrong idea. She simply couldn't stand gossips, especially if it was about her.

Paul turned to her again. "I need to be at Port Angeles a bit earlier than six."

'_A bit?' _she echoed silently. _'Really, OC much?' _

"Fine," she sighed. "It's settled. I'll be there by four thirty."

"Good. You know the Clearwaters' house, right?"

At her affirmation, he too nodded. "Well, see yah."

With that, he walked away and this time, she didn't stop him. She was left there in the almost empty hallway, staring at his retreating back, wondering what on earth had she gotten herself into.

xxxxx

Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed reading this. Reviews are much LOVE! =)

Okay, so I edited a few things in this chapter. I was originally thinking that the coffe house incident happened on a Sunday morning. But clearly, it would mess up my timeline for the babysitting services, so I quickly changed it to a Thursday after-school. Stupid me though, I didn't change the "full breakfast" tab bit. =/ Sorry about that. All is clear now.

So while I'm in here... Your reviews are so cool! =D But _more_ would be way cooler! Hehehe! ;) And thanks for the HITS y'all! Even if you didn't leave a review, I really appreciate you taking the time to read this little fic of mine. So, thanks! =)


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